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Today's game - Florida vs. Florida State

Fsu Knows Danger Lurks In 'The Swamp'

GAINESVILLE — Ever one to promote and revel in school tradition, Florida coach Steve Spurrier had an idea in the summer of 1991.

Everyone knew about Death Valley at Clemson, the hallowed field Between the Hedges at Georgia, the Horseshoe at Ohio State.

Florida Field is just as loud and intimidating as those places, Spurrier reasoned, so why didn't it have a nickname?

Thus was born ''The Swamp,'' a place where ''only Gators get out alive'' - or so reads a hand-painted sign players slap as they run through the tunnel onto Florida Field.

The nickname stuck. Fans fell in love with it. And the Gators, well, they just refuse to lose in The Swamp, where they have won a school-record 23 consecutive games - second nationally to Miami's 56-game home streak - heading into today's game against Florida State, which is favored to end the streak.

''I guess Norm Carlson (UF's longtime publicist) and I were talking one day about how come we don't call it something to give our players a little extra thrill or emotionally charges us up,'' Spurrier said. ''A swamp is certainly where alligators live and play.

''It's a natural for the Florida Gators.''

It has been a nightmare for everyone else since Spurrier's arrival in 1990. Florida has not lost a game at The Swamp since dropping its season finale to FSU, 24-17, in 1989.

''If we were playing this game in Tallahassee, I'd have my doubts, and I'm just being honest,'' UF linebacker Matt Pearson said. ''But they're coming here this year. We're a different team here.''

And how. Although undefeated at Florida Field under Spurrier, the Gators are 14-9 on the road. The difference is defense: UF has allowed 22.1 points per game away from home and only 12.6 in The Swamp.

The Seminoles, who lost in Gainesville, 14-9, in 1991, and other opponents say the crowd noise makes it difficult on opposing offenses.

''In '91 when I was a freshman, I came here, and I think the veterans let the fans get to them,'' FSU junior fullback William Floyd said. ''We can't let the fans get to us. We have to key on our advantages and ignore the crowd.

''It all comes down to who the most determined is. How much do they want to win at home? How much do we want to win the national championship?''

A handful of factors seem to set Florida Field apart from the nation's other 80,000-plus-seat college stadiums:

Stadium design. There is no track, and unlike most stadiums, the stands do not curve around the field but, rather, cozy right up to the sidelines. Also, the north-end zone expansion in '91 turned Florida Field into a bowl, broken only by two thin, towering spaces in the northeast and northwest corners.

The noise. Those thin spaces allow very little to escape, and unlike other large stadiums in which stands go straight back, those at Florida Field go straight up, holding the noise in and making play-calling difficult for opponents.

On the Seminoles' first drive of the '91 game, they had first-and-goal at the 2 but were called for illegal procedure and had to settle for a field goal. ''On the left side, the wide receiver, who had no bearing on the play . . . just couldn't hear,'' FSU coach Bobby Bowden said. ''The communication problems can eat you alive. We're prepared. We've used three or four different ways of communicating.''

The student section. It's larger and closer to the field than any in college football and is situated right behind the opposing team's bench. FSU's older players remember 1991 and think of being bombarded with coins and batteries and even a few cups that smelled like urine. ''You've got to keep your hat on the whole time down there,'' FSU receiver Kevin Knox said.

''We Are The Boys.'' Sure, the song is hokey, but the fans' tradition of locking shoulders and swaying back and forth to the tune - 70,000-plus strong - between the third and fourth quarters can be intimidating.

The streak itself, 23 games and counting. ''The success we've had, it just keeps snowballing,'' Spurrier said. ''We mentally believe good things are going to happen to us when we play here in The Swamp. The fan support gives us that confidence.''

Said Knox: ''Florida, they have complete confidence that even if they're losing by 40, they think there's some way they can come back behind Steve Spurrier and win. That's the kind of confidence they have. That's why they're so hard to beat there.''

Others across the nation are noticing. CNN analyst Danny Sheridan has made it a practice to give Florida a 4- to 4 1/2 -point edge when it plays in The Swamp - just for the home field.

Is a mystique blooming at Florida Field? Will The Swamp's aura engulf the Seminoles today as Notre Dame Stadium did two weeks ago?

''I heard Coach (Lou) Holtz talking about the Notre Dame mystique and how Florida State didn't believe it, but he said it didn't matter if they didn't respect it because the Notre Dame players believed it,'' Pearson said. ''It's the same thing here. We believe. I don't know if there's any mystique, but we just play better here.

''People have to believe it. Something is happening here. A lot of times we haven't been the better team, but we've won.''